Srugim Season 3, Episode 15: Srugim becomes a (Radio) Star

This is it. The end of an era. As we watched Srugim’s swan song we experienced many emotions. Happiness that it happened. Sadness that it’s over. Shock that Hodaya seems to have done the best of all the characters and anger that no one punched floppy hair stringbean in the face. Also, what is Maedela? Is it some sort of Charedi gossip rag? Because if so, we need to read it. ASAP. On to the recap !!

Realer than a Charedi Poster Defacement Hit and RunYifat visits work because she knows the secret of newborns: They are incredibly boring. Seriously. +50

It’s great how ill prepared Hodaya is for her show. Ignoring the absurdity of the whole thing ( we will get to that later) obviously Hodaya would think her show would just happen without her putting any effort into it. + 10

You can tell the journalist interviewing her is getting more and more desperate as Hodaya fails to answer a single question and give her usable quotes. +90 #we’vebeenthere

The hubub in the history class was awesome. “Why play Dossi songs play Rhianna” “What you are saying is Lashon Hara”. Oh to be young have one foot in popular culture and the other in Jewish texts. Oh God, we are about to wax nostalgic about Torah U’Maada. What is happening to us? + 70

Also, dear Rihanna fan: you were just like us in high school! We love you. Let’s be friends in ten years. +25

What does the Rambam say about Rihanna? Nothing. That’s what we thought.+15

Waiting for Gido reminds us of Waiting for Godot. Also, Gido’s family is super cute. +10

Amir knows that once he pulls the baby card, no one, even the cranky carpenter, can refuse him. Babies!! +30

Reut made partner!!! That’s right bitches, watch her break through that glass ceiling! +1,000 Ugh but why does this need to serve as a reminder that Reut is alone and that in reality she would rather just have a man. Can’t she have both??? Can’t we have it all?? Paging Gloria Steinem!

The scenes in the hospital were so heartbreaking. And Amir is a Tehillim machine +70

At first when Amir decided to make his own crib, we were like stop being such a cheapskate! but in the end it was very cute. AND NOW HE IS A CARPENTER, YOU KNOW WHO ELSE WAS A CARPENTER? LAIZY WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO TELL US!!!! +900

Amir plus power tools = HOT. +100

Who was surprised when Hodaya quit the radio show? Hands? Hands? That’s right. We saw that one coming a mile away. We were just surprised it didn’t involve her dumpster diving. + 20

The idea of Nati spending three days cursing at goats is hysterical. If only he wasn’t having a nervous breakdown at the same time. + 10

So these goats. They fixed Amir, served as an outlet for Nati’s anger and gave Reut inner peace. Where can we buy some? It would save us millions of therapy bills. + 50

That company car!!!!!!! We need something like that. The GPS, the dvd player in the back, the fancy seats…when do PhD students and journalists qualify for something like that? +1000 (Although, not gonna lie, we hope Reut keeps the motorcycle.)

Excellent Western music as Reut drives to the Negev. +5 Also Reut gets a lot of phone calls so we know she is important at work. And she ignores them! Suckers. +10.

Yifat’s freak out at Hodaya was a long time coming. We liked that she just lay shit on the table– she is learning a lot from her Charedi gal pals. +80

You know how in Greek plays the chorus is the voice of the audience. Here Yifat is channeling all the things the audience has wanted to say to Hodaya for three years. +600

“Life has given you presents and all you do is decide they aren’t for you.” A-EFFING-MEN. + a million

Also is the theme of Srugim “You are not special”? Both Amir and Hodaya need that information to be thrown in their faces before they could find happiness. Laizy is there a childhood trauma you would like to discuss?

When Charedim Attack!! Hodaya’s face and neck being blacked out and Avri getting beat up after trying to protect it was super topical. News you can use. + 50

Seriously, AVRI BEAT THEM UP IN THE NAME OF ZIONISM AND ALL THAT IS HOLY. The future of the Jewish people depends on you. +50000

So the Reut-Nati thing was kind of disappointing. We had been building up to it the whole season but in then end it was just awkward and made us a little uncomfortable to watch. Plus 50 because the build up to a relationship is always better than the actual relationship.

Also you know how in romantic comedies the two main stars fall in love /get married and then their respective wacky best friends makes eyes at each other across the aisle or exchange flirtatious banter? Well we have basically reduced Reut and Nati to wacky side kicks. They are not important enough to get happy endings but we want to throw them a bone so we don’t feel guilty. When the truth is that they will date for two weeks and then break up and pretend nothing ever happened that night in the Negev. +15

When Nati left, we were sad. But then he came back! Because Reut “forgot her jacket in the car”. So cute!! Oh Nati, we love you. +25

A place where all one eats is goat dairy products sounds like our idea of heaven. Well that plus cell phone reception. +50

When Reut goes back to her car so Nati won’t realize she heard his crazy monologue, it is super, super sweet. The human touch. +one million

Of course Reut would think to milk the goats in five seconds and Nati would not think of it after three days alone. +100

Nati says many excellent things to the goats, but perhaps the best (second to when he calls them bitches) is when he tells them to not eat that fast, because once he did and he vomited. Hahaha.. +50

“I used this knife. Now it’s fleishig.”Halachic humor for the win!! (P.S. We know it’s not, actually. It is still funny.)

Mopey Avri!! Come, we shall give you a hug. Even when you are sad, you are so perfect. +10

Faker than Reut taking care of goats in heels

When Hodaya sees herself plastered all over Jerusaelm, it reminds us of Sex and the City and when Carrie gets splashed by her own bus. Although that would have been funny, the whole thing is a bit too meta for us. -10.

People care this much about radio? We know we have mentioned it before, but still.-15.

“I would not have taken this show if I weren’t ready for it.” LIAR. -100

Speaking of this whole campaign, have you ever seen a press campaign that big in Israel? We haven’t minus that whole “lakum machar b’boker im hamishim million” which we will never get out of our head, ever. -45

Ulpana Tamar Ross lets teachers show their elbows? Is she going soft?-10

Floppy hair, you have a skeezy smile, you shook Reut’s hand, and you tackily claimed Reut’s office. GROSSSSSSSSSSS. We need to take a shower now.-10

How does Hodaya think that marriage is easy? Didn’t she watch Yifat almost get divorced and then be infertile, etc, etc? Also, further proof you can take the girl away from the dos, but not the dos out of the gir. MARRIAGE DOES NOT SOLVE YOUR PROBLEMS. -100 Well, maybe unless you marry Avri. (sigh.)

Those stuffed animals Yifat put around the apt are uber creepy. -30

Doesn’t the ulpana have a basic security system at night? Hodaya can just walk in? -15

How did Reut not know Tehila dated Nati? Like, seriously?

“She was very pretty.” Reut, good job on saying the wrong thing. Everyone knows exes are ugly. It’s a rule. -35

Ahh, Reut admits she loved Roi. That made us sad. -10 also ROI WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU?

The Negev is the perfect place to make out. Just saying, what happens in the Negev stays in the Negev. It’s just like vegas!!! -30

When Hodaya cleaned out her locker, we thought she was going to quit that and the radio job and really be a bum on the street. But then she started grading tests, which we somehow find less believable than the former. -20

A rolling pan with a knife and a manic Nati? This will end badly. -10

Hodaya, we know you lost your voice (so symbolic!!) but your people love texting! Your bestie just had a baby, maybe it made sense to not just mope outside her apartment all day and text Yifat? -60

Baby Srugim, gain weight!! You can do it!! Also, we are annoyed we didn’t find out his name. Boo. A Srugim bris, that would have been fun. Imagine all the bagelim. And, uh..whatever Sephardim have also. -30

I guess we shouldnt be surprised by this anymore, but Hodaya has a masters in Bible and is teaching Israel History. Whatever. -5.

“Let’s go have coffee. I miss you.” “Are you sure? “Are you sure I miss you?” Hey Yifat, you said it, not us. -50.

How could we have not ended with a Hodaya / Avri kiss. Come on we deserve it!- 5,000

So that’s it folks. we like Hodaya’s message. New day–forget the old basa! But still–many questions remain. Roi? What’s up with that? We would have liked to have seen Azarya and Hodaya together with their annoying selves. And Ulpana Tamar Ross! We will miss you so. Can she get a spin off? Also, excellent song choice! Boker Tov, by Erez Lev Ari. Listen! (He also sings the theme song.)

In the next few weeks we will do a longer retrospective of the whole series and Sarah has to transcribe and post her interview with Laizy. So keep checking in. In the meantime, what did ya’ll think of the finale? Cheers? Jeers?

P.S. We also know there has been talk of a fourth season in the blogosphere. Whatever news there is on that front, we will keep you updated as well. We are your source for all Srugim News.

Sorry I never commented before on your recaps, but it made watching the whole series so much more fun. I think I’ll miss this site more than the actual show :)
Great, great job. I’ll watch whatever you recap next :D

the whole goat=bitch thing reminded me of that story with benayahu accidentally telling the persian king that he milked a “bitch” instead of the correct animal (in that case a lion, but whatever). also i love the stab that laizy took at the haredim who are ruining life for the dati leumi crowd, as the two groups are indistinguishable “kippah wearers” to the hilonim in the “bu’ah.” overall, great episode!

What does it mean that Roi and Rivky make a dramatic return just several episodes ago and then are left out to dry and vaporize in the netherworld of Srugim characters?Did Yifat’s brother with his much vaunted Datlash credentials just pop up so he could give Avry a ride?Why in fact did Reut become Esther?I have more questions but no answers. This is sort of an adolescent dramatic series with a lot of quirky interludes along the way.Does anyone believe that Yifat’s
5 minute” resentment outburst” would bring Hodayah back to the world of reality?Is that all it takes? Who needs therapy? It feels like Ward giving the Beaver a “talking to.”I think one reson this series was allowed to proceed in this fashion is the fact that the secular Israelis who comprised the actors and the behind the scenes staff felt that they were not qualified to offer a critique on matters in the world of the religious.There really is a cultural-religious chasm in Israeli society.The only reason this show succeeded is that it was something dati-leumi people felt spoke their “language’ even if it was second rate. If the background were secular like an Israeli “Sex and the City” the series would not be taken seriously.Perhaps in season three the writers tired of drama and put their energies in arranging cameo appearances for family members of the various actors along with a healthy dose of whimsy and free floating existential angst.I can sense the influence of Seinfeld and Curb your Enthusiasm here but there is certainly no Larry David or his equivalent in the opening credits here.Finally ,let’s hear a “Srugette Salute” for a job well done. I really looked forward to the recap and comments every week.

One more unrealistic element of the advertising campaign for Hodaya’s radio show: only three days have elapsed from when she took Azarya’s place (we know because Nati was stuck on the goat farm for 3 days). How could they mount a whole campaign in such a short time? Also, in those same 3 days, Amir managed to put the whole crib together. Not so realistic, but a nice story nonetheless.

I’ve loved reading your recaps (and since I’m old enough to be your mother, I’ll wish you both many happy endings :-) )

About the radio PR blitz: apparently she was an overnight hit due to her voice. Hodaya’s also photogenic (i.e. smokin’ hot, especially in red LOL) and that business-minded station manager might have been thinking ahead, and took a stock picture of her and went to some 24-hour print shop and done the posters when Azariyah went AWOL. But even if you suspend realism, the SATC riff with the poster on the bus was great.

How big was the baby? I thought I heard kilo vachetzi? So how long would it take til they released him (at least 4.5 lbs, I would think) This confuses the timeline somewhat. But maybe the show was on hold for a couple weeks while the advertising campaign was launched.

I kind of concluded that ‘ein mukdam umeuchar beSrugim’!
Now I am well into Haem Aherim & waiting to hear what the Srugettes would like to discuss next. I have also started downloading Urim V’Tumim. Nu, ladies, what shall it be?

To find any show, go to http://www.tvnetil.net & search for your title. In this case, http://www.tvnetil.net/review/1270/ will bring up the list for Urim veTumim. You click on each episode & it gives you the code shichrur, which you paste into fave.co.il, which gives you all the sites where the episode is supposedly found. Often, though, they are no longer available. I find filefactory & fileflyer have most of them, though filefactory is very slow & fileflyer has some of the files locked. For $0.99 you can buy the upgrade for fileflyer for 24 hours & download everything you want. Caveat: I have learned way too many Arabic curse words from this show. But it would certainly be very interesting to discuss (particularly comparing accuracy of portrayal between Haem Aherim, Urim veTumim, & Srugim. Who were their consultants????)

It’s way funnier than SNL. They skewer anything and anyone, from Bibi to pop culture, and take chances with sacred cows (Haredi figures) that would give Fox News a heart attack if it were the Tea Party. It doesn’t make sense unless you know some of the context, though.

Life won’t be the same without Srugim, despite some of its unrealistic situations! Yes, the baby looked far too chubby- faced to be a preemie – but who’d want to see a scrawny scrap instead? Carpentry seems appropriate for Amir, & he might even earn more than a grammar teacher. But he didn’t try much for any other position, after his over-hasty walk [or rather, climb] out from his old job. And where, oh where are Amir or Yifat’s parents? Surely the birth of a grandchild would bring them out of the woodwork[!] Help them out a bit; buy them a crib/ pram. Give them a bit of emotional support!
Yifat’s berating Hodaya over her self absorbed angst was totally in place. The instant effect was just the right catalyst for her return to Avri. Avri! The epitome of faithful, patient love! Too good to be true – but who could resist him? [This from a Grandmother x times over!] My real beef is with Nati’s 3 day isolation, down at the farm. After the whole G’veret Schwartzman episode a while back, wouldn’t you think that the hospital would sort of wonder about his absence? He had been returned to the rota, hadn’t he? So what about his patients? Despite Ohad Knoller [& in fact, all of them] being a great actor, I sometimes felt that Nati’s temper was a bit juvenile, although Tehilla’s turnaround was pretty devastating. Still, she & Azariah deserve one another [you can take that any way you want!].
I did think that Reut [whatever happened to ‘Esther?] would end up, by going in for IVF. It would have suited her feminist character, especially after her enjoyment at looking after her little niece & despair at not yet getting hitched. It’s not unknown [though not Halachically approved] within the dati-leumi singles crowd.
To all the cast, Laizy & everyone involved in the production – WE LOVED IT!
Srugettes – KOL HAKAVOD! I loved your recaps, though I didn’t always get the more modern references]. I guess I’m giving away my age, but I have to add that ‘WE’ spans more than one generation [including our own, genuine ‘Sarug’].

I was soooo disappointed….there were tooo many loose ends…we NEED one more season….pleeeeeease! At least,a bris, Nati & Reut’s wedding/break-up (/they should have at least kissed), some conclusion on Roi & Rivki, and Avri & Hodaya’s wedding would just complete the circle.

Actually, a whole new season might be too much but there should have at least been a 2-hour season final like in the US, especially considering Srugim is gone forever ז”ל.

Thank you for amazing recaps! There were times when I was seriously thinking of quitting on Srugim but your recaps made me sit tight and watch (just so that I would get your comments afterwards:)).
Can’t wait to see what you’ll do next!

I just finished watching Haem Aherim. Quite interesting. I think the struggle of leaving the religious world has more depth. Much more coarse slang (which I needed a dictionary for) than on Srugim. Final episode has a lot of loose ends!

I would really want to hear a summary of season 1,before starting season 2, but I would also want to know if this series has objectionable material. Meanwhile I am keeping my Hebrew fluent by listening to R Amnon Yitzchak!

Avodah Aravit is on break now, but the episode this season where Amjad is a ‘vegetarian’, while his father and neighbor are trying to set up a kabob restaurant is classic. Too bad Meir and Mira Awad’s character Amal are either MIA or infrequently casted this year, though

Watched the last episode of Avoda Aravit (the “Miklat” episode) just now.

The performances were top-notch, nevertheless, I just find the whole notion that Israeli Jews should apologize for their existence extremely offensive PC BS. Acknowledging that some innocent people suffered and died on both sides is one thing, I even support the dismantling of settlements and the establishment of a Palestinian Arab state to be a vital necessity for Israel (something considered anathema in the right-wing MO pro-Israel circles I was raised in), but the idea that Israel should apologize? Never.

My other main critique of the show is, while i find the cast terrific, the plots became too farcical and Amjad and his father became too ridiculous in Seasons 2 and 3. Don’t get me wrong, I was plotzing at his antics, but Season 1 IMO provided more nuanced satire, and Seasons 2 and 3 (at least until the final episode was like watching “I Love Amjad”!

Here’s the official “the fat lady has sung” post about Srugim – word that there’s no fourth season from Yes. If there were any more doubt after the ‘farewells’ from Tali Sharon, Sharon Fauster, and Laizy Sharpira after the final episode, there isn’t now:http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4225224,00.html

I like frum-themed shows, but only if I am pretty sure they will be clean. Hayim Aherim (about a hesder boy whose physical therapist lures him into becoming a dancer) was not too bad, Urim veTumim (about a boy in a prestigious yeshiva who drowns) was much worse.

So far after watching this first episode, it looks like a big promo for Chabad.

If you read this thread from COL, the response from real Chabadnikim seems pretty positive, it actually has a Chabadnik adviser but there are those who warn that nothing good can come from the negative influence from TV and that maybe it’s ok for “frei” people to watch it if it will mekarev them, but that frum people should avoid it.

Yonah Wallach was a bisexual Hebrew poet–she wrote a kinky poem about tefilin (’nuff said)–it’s not the biggest surprise that your school (Shulamith?) didn’t include her in the curriculum! Even if that episode of Kathmandu didn’t include a real schmutzy poem,her name alone is considered “mature content” and it’s wise to warn the viewers away from it—but by labeling it that way–even if they air a tame excerpt, some people may be tempted to explore her poetry further. I tried to watch the episode at work but because reshettv labeled it “mature content” the filters at my job wouldn’t let me access it–now I’m afraid they’re going to think I’m trying to watch porn and I’ll get fired.

This is the most entertaining blog ever. I just finished watching the last Srugim episode last night on DVD and have loved reading this commentary. You know what would be awesome? To make a list of all the songs and singers played at the end of the episodes.

So can someone tell me, re: Hatufim
1. Were Uri & Nurit married or engaged when he was captured?
2. Is this going to be full of scenes of torture & violence? I watched the 1st 1 1/2 episodes but if they’re going to continue with the flashbacks I don’t think I want to watch any more.

I have Seasons 1 and 2 on DVD. I’m pretty sure Uri & Nurit they were at least living together, and were planning to get married. OTOH Nimrod was married and starting a young family when he was captured.

As to the flashbacks, they’re much less intense (with one exception involving Nimrod and PTSD), and in general are focused more the backstory of Amiel/Yusuf and Jamal.

This blog is amazing. As an American, gentile (goy?), non-Hebrew speaking black person, I appreciate Srugim for giving me a window into a culture I would not otherwise have experienced. In American media, Israelis are
1 – almost always one-dimensional caricatures (as I’m sure I don’t need to tell anyone who reads this blog);
2 – always portrayed in relation to Palestinians as if neither Israelis or Arabs had discrete existences or inner lives;
3 – and now that I’ve watched the show I realize the western secular fundamentalist paradigm is imposed on the subtler hiloni, dati, haredi spectrum.

One intuitively knows 1 and 2 is bull$#!t. One argues with one’s friends that Israelis are living out a complex historical, religious and geopolitical inheritance that obviates good guy glorification/bad guy vilification. But one’s international friends are all from Africa or India or Mexico and this is no help.

I appreciate Srugim because I got to see multi-faceted dati leumi going about daily life in Jerusalem. A plane ticket from MSP to TLV is $1,900, so my subtitled DVD is the only place I would have been able to experience this world. On one level, I watched the acting and stories as entertainment, but I also watched as education on Israeli life, religion and pop culture. I mean, I know it’s a TV show not a documentary, but still.

And what an education I got from the Srugettes! Literally every single item relating to religion or Hebrew in every one of your blog posts would have sailed clear over my head. All. Of. Them. To me comedy > drama, and I preferred Season 1’s rom-com hijinks, but due to your blog I found Seasons 2 and 3 a far richer, more textured experience. And as the show got more dramatic, I got my comedy fix in the recap. By the end of the series characters would come on screen and I’d be like “Hey, it’s floppy hair string bean!” or “It’s Ulpana Tamar Ross!” and I was scrutinizing the women’s fashion choices and modesty like a hawk. Good times, lol.

Run right over (okay, I’m a bit late with this, but I haven’t had any guidance from you guys!) to Shtissel and have a look at Avri, er, זוהר קראוס as a Dosi. I totally didn’t recognize him til I read the critique here: https://sites.google.com/site/directvshow/movies/hwdhllkwtrt-7 (and click on “bikoret” above Episode 2).